Spring Cleaning and Getting Rid of Soul Junk

There’s been a whole lot of cleaning going on in our house these last few weeks: bags of old clothes, boxes of books, Little A’s crafts she’s sorted through and deemed obsolete, pounds and pounds of papers out to the recycle bin.If it doesn’t serve a purpose or isn’t a dearly kept memory, it’s been chucked.

Man, it’s felt good.

A few weeks ago, I felt like God was saying to me, “Get rid of the clutter.” I wouldn’t necessarily label myself a pack rat, and certainly, if you walked into the apartment and ignored the random bits scattered here and there, I suppose I’m fairly organized.So, it took me a while to see that there wasn’t just physical clutter junking up the works, that this clutter was the stuff I’d emotionally carried along the last few years, a lot of that has to do with self doubt and regrets from my past. I’d been holding on to things some physical things from an old life, yes, but lots of emotional things as well.

If you’ve been trying to move forward, I want to share one of the most beautiful, reassuring, empowering verses.It was tucked away in this week’s Bible study on Micah, a book that goes back and forth with Israel’s sin and the promised hope that God will bring to them once again through Jesus Christ:

How much more, then, will the blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, that we may serve the living God! (Hebrews 9:14)

What an amazing gift!God wants us to move on, keep our eyes fixed and him and make level paths for our feet.A good friend has a plaque up in her office with this saying: “Don’t look back, you’re not going there.” It’s funny we don’t know the stuff we’re carrying around until we really face it and have to get rid of it.We all know that moving is the best motivation for purging.We’ve got to keep moving, we can’t look back, we can’t even slow down, because God has AMAZING things in store for you.I’m talking saving lives, rescuing relationships, renewing hope, BIG things, so we can’t let the baggage slow us down.

Maybe it’s time to take a personal evaluation, to come face to face with some of the stuff you’ve been avoiding and accept the power of the blood of Jesus Christ in your life.Is there anything practical you could do right now to make that step?